Swivel hinge support



Dec. 13, 196.0

H. J. GARu-:PY 2,964,094 SWIVEL HINGE SUPPORT Filed Jan. 6, 1959 INVENTOR. HENRY J. GARIEPY BY zw/6;,

ATTORNEY SWIVEL HINGE SUPPORT Henry J. Gariepy, Gariepy Products Inc., South Ashburnham, Mass.

Filed Jan. 6, 1959, Ser. No. 785,194

6 Claims. (Cl. 155-69) This invention relates to a new and improved supporting means for an amusement device such as a hobby horse; the provision of a swivelly supported novel hinge construction; and the provision of a lbase or standard having mounted thereon a swivel and there being supported on the swivel a hinged base-plate or the like mounted to pivot on a horizontal axis, said base-plate mounting an amusement device, chair, or other desired object.

Further objects of the invention include the provision of a supporting device of the class described comprising a base, a block of resilient rubber-like material, etc., sponge-rubber or the like mounted thereon, a second plate above the rubber-like material and hingedly connected through the lower plate at the sides thereof to pivot thereon and with respect thereto, said pivot axis being located intermediate the side edges of the upper and lower plates, so that when the upper plate is pivoted on its axis, it must compress one side of the rubber-like material, the rubber-like material acting in the nature of a spring and yieldingly maintaining the upper plate in normal horizontal position except when the same is disturbed by any action made by a user of the supported device.

The invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the -accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of the device according to the present invention, parts being lbroken away and parts being in section;

Fig. 2 is la section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the action of the device.

In carrying out the present invention, there is preferably provided a plate generally indicated at 10. This plate is generally square and is provided with a circular groove or race 12 for mounting anti-friction means such as ball bearings therein, see Fig. 2. Mounted upon the lower plate 10, there is a plate 14 which is similar thereto but reversed and is swivelly connected to plate by a central pin 16. It will be seen that plate 14 is swivelly mounted on plate 1@ and if plate 10 is maintained generally horizontally, the axis of the plate 14 is vertical.

If desired, certain conventional extending legs such as at 18 may be bolted or otherwise secured to the lower surface of plate 10 in order to form a foundation for the device. Also, if desired, plate 14 may be provided with threaded, adjustable stop pins 20 for a purpose to be described, these stop pins extending generally above the upper surface of the plate 14 adjacent certain edges thereof.

Mounted at opposite edges of plate 14, there are provided 4a pair of upright members generally indicated at 22. These members are vertical and short and mount axially aligned pivot-pins 24 thereon which in turn provide a pivot support for straps or ears 26, straps 26 de- 2,954,094 Patented Dec. 13, 1960 pending from and supporting an upper plate 28. Upper plate 28 may be of any size or shape desired, but it is conveniently made in square `form more or less of an outline to conform to the plates 10` and 14 and being mounted upon the ears or straps 2.6 and swivelled on pins 24. It will be seen that plate 28 is constrained to move with plate 14 on a vertical axis and swivels independently thereof on a horizontal axis formed by pins 24.

Plate 28 is spaced from the top surface of plate 14 and between these two plates, there is provided a block 30 of resilient rubber-like material such as for instance sponge rubber or the like. This material is obtainable in dilerent degrees of densities so that the action thereof may be varied according to the specific requirements encountered. In any event, this sponge rubber is more or less in the same block-like shape as that of plates 1l),V 14

and 28 and is constrained to move with plate 14 and to` be partially compressed by plate 28 when the latter is swivelled to pivot on the axis of pins 24 as is clearly brought out in Fig. 3. In this ligure, the right-hand side of the rubber block is stippled in order to show `a greater concentration or compressing of the sponge rubber when the plate 28 is swivelled in a clockwise direction. causes the plate 28 to resume its normal or horizontal position upon the release of the pressure that caused plate- 28 to tilt as shown. The action in the opposite direction as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 will of course be the same at the opposite side of the pivot axis. The vertical adjustable stop pins 20, 20 may be moved up or down and are herein shown as threaded `for this purpose. As clearly shown in Fig. l, adjustment of the pins will result in variation of the limits of pivotal action of plate 28.

Any object desired may lbe mounted directly upon the plate 28 or through intermediary means. The amusement device here shown is a horses body provided with a plate 32 secured therewithin by any desired or convenient means. To this plate there is attached a tube 34 having a cross pin 36 forming an end yabutment for a spring 38. The other end of the spring 38 rests on a pin 40 in a tube 42, the tube 42 being mounted at its lower end directly on plate 28. Thus it will be seen that the horse gure may be sat upon and will resiliently move vertically up-and-down and at the same time the operator of this device may cause the entire horse body to swivel about axis of pin 16 and about the horizontal axis of the pins 24 as above vdescribed with relation to the action of plate 28.

It is to -be understood that the swivel base described above may also be used as a base for any other object desired such as a platform rocker type of chair, etc. It is to be understood as regards Fig. l, the figure of the horse is extremely small in proportion to the supporting base compared to the actual manufacture of this device. These proportions were used in order to illustrate the invention because the horses figure would run off the sides of the drawing, and it is therefore to be noted that far larger members to be supported such as such horses figures, chairs, etc. may be used than is shown in the drawing in Fig. l, and the proportions in Fig. l were made in the manner shown merely for purposes of illustration of the invention in this case.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A device of the class kdescribed comprising a pair of plates in general atwise contacting relation, a swivel pin connecting said plates together for swiveling motion on the axis of the pin by one plate relative to the other, supporting legs for one of said plates, -a pair of upstaud- 0f course, this compressed sponge rubber then ing spaced members on the other plate, said members being located adjacent the edges of the latter, and a third plate, said third plate having a pair of depending ears thereon adjacent opposite edges thereof extending into cooperative relationship with the opstand-.ing members on ythe other plate, pivot-pins connecting the ears and upstanding members together in pairs on a common axis, said third plate being spaced tfrom the rst-named plates, and a Vresilient member interposed therebetween so that said third plate may be pivoted with relation to the firstnamed plates but is normally held in parallelism therewith by said resilient member.

2. A device of the class described comprising a pair of plates in general ilatwise contacting relation, -a swivel pin connecting said plates together for swiveling motion on the axis of the pin by one plate relative to the other, supporting legs for one of said plates, a pair of upstanding spaced lmembers on the other plate, said members being located adjacent the edges of the latter, and a third plate, said third plate having a pair of depending ears thereon adjacent opposite edges thereof extending into cooperative relationship with the 4npstanding mem- Ibers on the other plate, pivot-pins connecting the ears and upstanding members together in pairs on a common axis, said third plate being spaced from the rstnamed plates, and a resilient member interposed therebetween so that said third plate may be pivoted with relation to the first-named plates lbut is normally held in parallelism therewith by said resilient member, a tubular member mounted on said third plate, a spring in the tubular member, another tubular member telescopingly mounted with the first tubular member and engaged with the spring for normally holding said tubular members in an extended relation, and an object mounted on the second tubular member and adapted to be operated for swiveling on a vertical laxis, on a horizontal axis, and capable of up-and-down motion due to said telescoping construction.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the resilient member comprises a block of rubbery material.

4. The dev-ice of claim 2 vwherein the resilient member comprises a block of rubbery material.

5. The deviceoif `claim 1 including adjustable means for varying the degree of pivotal action of said third plate.

6. The device of claim 2 including adjustable means for varying the degree of pivotal action of said third plate.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 384,608 Bunker June 19, 1888 1,338,555 Cooke'et al. Apr. 27, 1920 1,437,848 vKisor et al. Dec. 5, 1922 1,961,530 Spanenberg lune 5, 1934 2,059,848 Cavitt Nov. 3, 1936 2,746,754 Martel May 22, 1950 2,779,642 Mathews lan. 29, 1957 2,788,842 Ohlenkamp Apr. 16, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 498,671 Canada Dec'. 22, 1953 1,104,940 France .Tune 22, 1955 

